We are back with another Music Disk volume to satisfy the craving for more FM synth!

Today we’re featuring some select tunes from a disk title “Firecracker Music Collection vol.A: Comiket 42 Special” composed, arranged, and programmed entirely by CHEMOOL (Takahiro Yonemura). This disk was release for the PC-8801 on August 16th, 1992 and uses PMD v3.3 (by KAJA). Join us for some good ol’ fashion doujin originals and arrangements.

The 90s were a particularly strong era for game audio on all fronts. The console market was thriving by creating a simpler way to play a game on the cheap, but the PC gaming scene continued to deliver unique experiences with many different hardware configurations. Guest, Gene Dreyband, joins us for a look at some 90s PC/AT music that rocked our world.

Lunar touched many gamer’s hearts as it told the story of a young boy whose dreams of becoming a Dragonmaster begin to unfold. The game has remarkable storytelling (wether you love or hate the translation) mixed with adventure, love, and friendship that’s a must-play for any RPG fan. But the key to any good RPG is the music. Noriyuki Iwadare‘s (岩垂徳行) composition brings out the emotional quality that can emphasize the excitement or tear your heart out with despair. And without him, this would have been a very different game. Join us as we discuss the music of Lunar: The Silver Star and the remakes as well as an interview with composer, Noriyuki Iwadare.

BlaZeon is a horizontal shooter, developed by A.I Co and published by Atlus in 1992 for the arcade. Originally a Japanese only release, Atlus ported the game to the SNES for Japan AND the US shortly after (in the same year, 1992) The music (composed by Tsukasa Masuko) is totally pumpin’ and deserves a listen. Join in as we dive into the soundtrack.

In this installment of Pixelated Audio, we’re heading back to the Game Boy featuring a soundtrack from a Japanese-only title called Uchuu no Kishi Tekkaman Blade, developed by Sun L and published by Yutaka in 1992. This game is based off the short lived anime by Tatsunoko Production and Sotsu Agency. The game is a blast and has a great soundtrack composed by Norihiko Togashi, who has contributed to over 100 titles in his career (Battle Dodgeball, Ultraman, and Super Wagyan Land for SFC). Join us as we tear apart the audio from this cool action platformer.

The third Natsume NES/Famicom spotlight on the show features music from another strong composer. Dragon Fighter is a side scrolling action platformer, released for the Famicom in Japan in 1990, developed by Natsume and published by Towa Chiki. In 1992 the game was brought to the North American audience by a company called SOFEL Corp. Using the driver by Iku Mizutani, composer Kouichi Yamanishi delivers a similar style that retains everything we love about the Natsume sound. Join us as we listen to the music of Dragon Fighter on Nintendo’s 8 bit powerhouse.

Heading back to the YM2608 for a look (and listen) at a game called Starfire for the PC-9801. A system exclusive, 1st person action RPG, released on October 14th of 1994; developed and published by a small company called StarCraft Inc. It’s an interesting game that, even though a Japanese only title, borrows heavily from Western games like “Might and Magic.” More importantly, the music composed by Takeshi Abo, is a mixture of ambient, dance, and focuses on rhythm and pace to carry the mood.

Join in as we discuss the music of Starfire and also chat with Takeshi Abo about his music from over 20 years ago!

MAGWest was the first West Coast MAGFest event in Santa Clara, California (August 25th-27th) and we were stoked to be invited to do a panel this year. The topic we landed on was the sound system of the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive and how the two sound chips (Sega PSG/YM2612) complemented each other for a rich audio experience. This year we had two guests join in on the talk. Well-known chiptune artist and game audio advocate Inverse Phase and the master of the OPL2, Extent of the Jam. Sound chips, tunes, and some Inverse Phase originals included. There’s also a mini game at the end

MAGWest had tons of bands, music, gaming, and awesome people in the community. It was a blast! Look below for the presentation —Oh, and pardon the audio quality!

For our panel, we included a visual presentation to help with some of the explanation. MAGWest Slides

Riding on the heels of our last episode (MAGWest Panel), Gene co-hosts with us once again for a Sega Genesis/Mega Drive themed Expansion Pack. We’ve got a lot of great music and hopefully some new stuff that you might have missed!

In this installment we’re exploring the soundtrack of an overlooked SNES Action-RPG released in 1994, titled: Brain Lord. It was developed by Produce! in conjunction with a sound group called Opus, and published by Enix for the Super Nintendo (or Super Famicom).

Composed by Masanao Akahori, the game has a totally catchy soundtrack and some truly wonderful moments that were clearly inspired by 80’s Pop and Rock. Join in as we take a step into the town of Arcs with Remeer and friends.

It’s Halloween season and we’re bringing out a soundtrack to one of the most terrifying adorable ghosts around (even makes your ghost emoji look scary). Yuurei-kun (aka Mr. Ghost) is a side-scrolling action game released for the MSX2 and higher compatible machines in 1989 both published and developed by System Sacom. While the soundtrack was written using simple PSG (3 voices), the late Manabu Saito delivered an enjoyable soundtrack that is wonderfully composed and hauntingly catchy.

A bit of a change from our normal episodes, James is sick this week so Gene taps in to fill the void in this late night recording. We hope you enjoy it!

A bit of a different episode today. Not chiptune at all but totally worth a listen!Cuphead is the first game by the indie studio called StudioMDHR based in Canada, which was created by brothers Chad and Jared Moldenhauer.

In development since 2010, Cuphead graced the gaming world only last month but is the first of its kind. Now, we’ve seen many action platformers and many boss-battle systems pop up before (no short supply here) but a beautiful art style that is reminiscent of cartoons from the 1930s combined with a killer sound that marks an era, Cuphead is something of its own.

Join us as we chat with the current world record speed runner, The Mexican Runner, about the gameplay. And of course, composer Kristofer Maddigan about his composition.

Pixelated Audio Music Disk Vol. 3 features the 7th and final music disk from GC-clusterz. Released in December of 1991, this compilation includes both arrangements of video game music AND original tunes made for the PC-8801 series of computers by NEC. Led by GEPPEL, this doujin group only lasted a year (as GC-clusterz) but produced a ton of music in that short span of time. Join in as we take a listen to some of our favorite tracks from this awesome indie music disk.

Today’s Expansion Pack tends to lean heavy on the Sharp X68000 (not planned) but that’s not a bad thing. Some amazing tracks selected from the Pixelated Audio team for your listening pleasure. Be sure to let us know your thoughts about the music as well!

WonderBoy III: The Dragon’s Trap is a special game for a lot of people in a lot of ways. Today we will explore all the different paths to find its hidden gameplay and musical treasures. Much like the game, with its colorful cast of playable characters, we will not be alone on this journey of discovery. We are joined by the original composer Shinichi Sakamoto as well as Michael Geyre, Omar ‘Bock’ Cornut and Romain Gauthier from the amazing team that brought this game back to life in 2017 for the Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One and PC.

Whether you played this back in the day on the Master System, picked this up for a modern console, or even have it on your ‘wish list’ we think you will enjoy this interesting (and chaotic at times) look into a game that was so ahead of its time it’s still enjoyable today.

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